Two convicted of murdering Rwandan university student

By Sania Babirye

Two suspects who were charged with the murder of 19 year old Columbian University student Andrew Gatare in 2015 have been convicted of murder by the High court in Kampala.

Justice Angelin Flavia Ssenoga has convicted Ronald Mutebi and Geoffrey Lubwama aka Jeff for the murder of the Rwandan National who was attacked on the outside Kampala Serena hotel were he had gone to watch fireworks on New years Eve.

This is after two court assessors Rehema Babirye and Bogere Betty advised court to find the suspects guilty of the offense stating that evidence adduced by the state was sufficient enough to prove the murder case against them.

The victim apparently met his death at around 2pm as he was looking for a bodaboda around Nile Avenue to his home in Kololo after watching fireworks.

The convicts first robbed him of his valuables including a black berry mobile phone, his wallet containing unspecified amount of cash before murdering him.

At the time of his death, Gatare was pursuing electrical engineering at Columbia university in Canada and was here for the Christmas holiday.

His lifeless body was found by police and was later pronounced dead at Mulago hospital and a postmortem carried out revealed that cause of death was trauma due to a deadly weapon on his head which was identified as a hammer during trial.

The suspects were arrested after police tracked the black berry mobile phone they had stolen from the deceased .

However, Mutebi a resident of Kazo had sold the phone to a one Damulira at 60,000 and upon arrest of Damulira, he informed court that Mutebi had sold him the phone and he had paid a down payment of 40,000 shillings.

When Mutebi was quizzed by police,he confessed to the murder and stealing the phone with his accomplice Lubwama.

These have further been remanded to Luzira prison until the 22nd of this month when they will be handed their sentences.